


All For Naught

by MegaKat



Series: Resurrection [2]
Category: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball
Genre: All For Nothing, Angst, Death, F/M, Falling In Love, Fruitless Struggle, Go read Warm Me Up first, Last Stand, Loss of Virginity, Mating, Mating Bond, Safety, The Pull, Trust me go read it or you're gonna hate me, so much fucking angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-23
Updated: 2015-09-23
Packaged: 2018-04-23 01:54:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4858709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MegaKat/pseuds/MegaKat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ami's portion of Warm Me Up. We all know who Usagi and Trunks found in the ice and snow, but how did they get there?</p>
            </blockquote>





	All For Naught

**Author's Note:**

> We all know how this plays out, but I was pretty sure that a few of yall wanted this. And sorry for the long absence, I just wasn't feeling any drive to write at all. I think I needed a break.
> 
> Oh, and I normally DON'T ever do this, but you should loop "We Carry On" by The Phantoms for the duration of this story. Hell, loop it for all of Warm Me Up.

                As she ignored the screaming protests of her knee and ankle as best as she could, Ami leaned on the solid, long tree branch that she’d found and used as a walking stick since her run-in with the androids halfway up the mountain. Thankfully, they’d grown bored when she’d hid in the snow and ice and they couldn’t find her and assumed her dead—they’d moved on, but Ami had harbored a paranoia for days that they would return.

                “Gods, I want to rest,” she whispered to no one, turning her face up towards the summit. She was nearly there, though, so to rest seemed a little stupid to her, and Ami heaved a deep sigh as she risked using her powers a little to shift the ice and snow to create a ramp to walk over instead of being forced to climb.

                She just didn’t have it in her to climb anymore, the androids be damned. If they picked up on her energy again, she’d just burrow deep in the ice a second time and they’d go away. Maybe. Hopefully.

                At the top of the ramp Ami’s eyes widened and she blinked at the sight of a cabin, but that wasn’t what nearly made her faint—it was the smoke coming from the chimney of it and the form of a massive, giant of a man chopping wood close by, his broad, muscular back to her.

“Hello,” she rasped, her voice freezing him mid-swing. “I…um… I’m sorry to interrupt you at your work, but… you wouldn’t happen to have anything to eat, would you?”

The giant chopping wood turned then, slowly lowering his axe as soon as he saw that her hair was blue and not blonde, and he just stared at her for a long moment, taking in the sight of her busted, splinted leg before nodding slowly. “I’ve got plenty. Huh… but tell me something, Blue.”

The curious, slightly suspicious look on his face didn’t surprise Ami and she gave him a weak smile despite her pain. “I’m not one of them, I swear it.”

“No, I know what they look like well enough,” he replied with a wave of his hand. “I just want to know if they think you’re dead after that ruckus halfway up the mountain a week ago. Honestly… I thought they’d found me and I was ready to fight and die, but…” He shrugged at that, scratching his bald head before sighing and shrugging. “You know what? Fuck it, it doesn’t matter. Come on in, I’ve got some stew simmering.”

“I’m Ami,” she offered as she hobbled along, trying her best not to wince as she walked and focused her eyes on the ground in front of her.

“Nappa,” he grunted in answer before sighing heavily and coming over. “Here. Arms around my neck. I won’t hurt you.”

Since his last statement had been spoken as if he expected her to think he would do such a thing, Ami hesitated, craning her neck to look up into his eyes for any bad intentions. She didn’t find any, though, she only felt an odd fluttering in her chest as his eyes widened momentarily and his lips turned up in a slow, uncertain smile. “No… you won’t hurt me. Thank you, Nappa,” she stated as she did as instructed and dropped her stick to hang onto him as he’d instructed, marveling at how easily he scooped her up as if she weighed nothing. “Thank you,” she repeated once he’d gotten her inside—ducking to pass his massive frame through the doorway, still cradling her to his chest as he kicked off his boots so he wouldn’t track snow inside.

“No problem. Ami, was it?” He waited for her nod before striding over to a chair and settling her in it, and Nappa locked eyes with her again as he knelt, satisfied when he felt that slight tugging in his chest a second time and his beast inwardly purred in response. Well… who would’ve thought he’d run into his mate up here, in the middle of nowhere, when there was a war going on below that had decimated the population?

“Well, Ami,” he murmured as he broke eye contact to study her leg, “do you want to eat before or after I’ve set your knee? I’d recommend after. The pain’s likely to make you hurl.”

“Wait. You know what you’re doing?” Ami asked skeptically. He certainly didn’t look like any doctor she’d ever met, but then again… she probably didn’t look anything like a Senshi to most laymen.

“I’ve set worse,” Nappa answered slowly, gnawing on his lower lip as he wondered how much he should tell her right away. “Last couple years,” he continued carefully as he untied the strips of cloth binding her leg to a stick, “I worked as a bouncer, then as a bodyguard for… well…” He stopped at that and cringed, worried about her reaction. “I worked for the mob, more or less.  And before that I—”

“Nappa,” Ami said softly, “it’s ok.” She managed her best smile when he looked up at her in surprise and she shrugged like it didn’t matter. Honestly, it didn’t. “We’ve all done things we aren’t proud of. What matters is what we do in the present. Not what we did in the past.”

The sad, knowing look in her eyes surprised him, but Nappa nodded slowly in agreement as he untied the last strip of snow-caked cloth and gently removed her boot on her injured leg, supporting her leg with his massive hands so as not to hurt her knee further. “This is going to hurt,” he warned her. “A lot.”

“I’m used to pain,” she sighed. “Just do it.”

No sooner had the words left her mouth, Nappa relocated her knee swiftly, cringing at the sound of her crying out in pain. He had to remind his beast that they didn’t have a choice, that they had to hurt her so she could heal, and once it receded, he leaned up and pressed his lips to her chin… and then her mouth, his heart aching as he briefly tasted her. “I’m sorry.”

Ami was so stunned by both kisses that she could only nod, her eyes shut even as he wiped at her tears. “It’s ok,” she finally breathed, her voice shaking as her knee throbbed in time with her heartbeat and she wondered how many pain pills were left in her subspace. “I have some medicine I saved for the pain.” She dug in her pocket then but actually fished around in her subspace for a moment before pulling one of them out and looking up at him for a moment as an afterthought.

The pills made her high and sometimes sleepy; could she trust him well enough to take one? After all, he’d just kissed her, and however short it had been, her heart had pounded at the contact. Judging by the look on his face, Ami hadn’t been the only one effected, either.

“I shouldn’t have done that. I’m sorry,” Nappa apologized. He wasn’t stupid; he knew exactly why she was studying him so closely. “Take your pill, I swear on my—er… well. I swear, at any rate. That I won’t do you harm,” he finished a little lamely. “I’ll get you a bowl of stew and you can eat while I wrap your knee. Your ankle’s just sprained and not too bad, but that knee was badly sprung and needs a lot of rest. After you’ve eaten, you can sleep in my bed,” he added slowly as he doled out a large bowl of rabbit stew for her and handed it over with a hunk of bread. “It’s plenty big.”

The doorway to her right showed that the bed inside was massive, and Ami caught his meaning and nodded. He’d give her the bed and sleep out here in the only other room besides the bathroom, but that bed was big enough for both of them to easily sleep without touching each other. “That’s fine. I mean… if I’m going to trust you enough to take one of these pills, it’d seem stupid not to trust you to sleep a foot away from me.”

Nappa seemed to relax at that, and Ami watched him relax even further when she began to eat his offering, his massive hands slow and careful as he tended to her knee with some bandages he had in a box. She took her pill with a glass of water he offered, smiling and shaking her head at the offer of a beer, which was apparently all he had up there besides water.

At least he had food. That was better than most were doing down in the world below; Ami herself only had a little bit left in her subspace after her long journey up the mountain. “So… how did you wind up here?” She asked between bites. “Er… sorry. I won’t ask questions if you don’t want me to. I appreciate your help. Really, I do.”

“It’s alright,” he grunted as he finished wrapping her knee to immobilize it. “I actually owned this place for a few years before they came.” No need to say who ‘they’ were, everyone knew. It went without saying. “I’ve never been horribly smart, but well… my time before my bouncer job made me extremely paranoid. The moment I had some money, I bought land in the most remote place I could find and stocked it with everything. There’s enough here for years, and it’s so cold that nothing goes—wait. Weren’t you freezing on your way up?” He asked slowly, looking her over.

Ami wasn’t wearing anything heavier than a sundress with her hiking boots, and she only just realized it and blanched, looking away from him sharply. “I… um…”

It was below freezing out and a nice day by the mountain’s standards, but there wasn’t a chance in hell that she should’ve had anything less than frostbite in so little clothing, and Nappa was curious, but stopped himself from asking the obvious questions. She hadn’t pressed him for answers and he decided that it would be unfair to do the same. “No, it’s alright. You’re here and I’m grateful that I don’t have to treat frostbite, so don’t answer unless you want to.”

“You weren’t wearing much either,” Ami realized as she looked away from the fire, her eyes raking over him just as slowly. Just jeans, socks and boots. No shirt. Sure, he’d been cutting wood and working hard, but the air and the wind up there on the summit was biting cold. Any other man would’ve been wearing a coat and a shirt at least. “Hm…” She made a quick decision then and took another bite of her stew, savoring the flavor of it slowly before speaking again to the giant man wrapping her ankle. “Tell me yours and I’ll tell you mine.”

“Alien from another planet, like the kids fighting the androids,” he said simply. “Only I’m full-blooded. They’re half. I can use my ki to warm me. And I trained warriors for a living as a general of my people,” he finished, his voice as calm as if he were listing recipe ingredients. “That’s how I learned about relocating joints. It happened pretty often during training.”

“Heh… well, that’s definitely interesting,” Ami giggled. “Better than mine, to be honest. Sailor Mercury,” she added when he looked up at her expectantly. “Senshi of ice. The cold doesn’t bother me.”

“Heh.” His chuckle echoed her little laugh, and Nappa grinned as he finished her ankle and gave her leg a gentle pat. “I’d wondered why they’d left you alone. You burrowed into the snow and played dead, didn’t you?”

“Yup, exactly,” Ami replied with a smile. “I pushed my energy signature as low as I could and let my body temperature drop and held my breath. I got lucky, to be honest. So… tell me. If those two fighting are only half and you’re full-blooded—“

“The littlest one outstrips my power level over ten-fold,” Nappa snickered. “Don’t get me started on the other one. Fucking Legendary Super Saiyan. I about shit my pants when I saw that kid go gold the first time and remembering it still gives me goosebumps. At first I was in awe and a little jealous, but… you know what? Good for him. If anyone needs the Legendary on their planet right now, it’s the humans, and that kid worked his ass off for it. Even if he is the son of a third-class son of a—meh, sorry. It doesn’t matter anymore. Still a little bitter about getting my ass kicked by Kakarot, I guess.”

“There’s a lot to be bitter about nowadays,” Ami answered knowingly.

“Hn… yeah. I can only imagine from your side of things, Blue,” Nappa murmured. “Haven’t heard radio reports about Sailor Moon in quite a while.”

“She’s only thirteen and we ask so much of her,” she whispered sadly. “We um… we had to give her a break. We lost another one. Hotaru, Sailor Saturn… it… it was too much for Moon to bear, especially when we only just lost Uranus and Neptune last year.”

Judging by the tears that he was wiping from her cheeks again, she’d had a hard time bearing it, too. “Sorry,” Nappa managed. He knew it was hard, but that went without saying. Everyone on the planet had lost someone and there weren’t any exceptions to the rule.

“We split up. We had to. The androids somehow figured out how to track us and they have an easier time of it when we’re in a group. So we split up and only one of us stayed with Moon to guard her in a bunker somewhere. None of us know where they’ve gone. It’s safer that way,” she finished softly.

“Yeah,” he agreed, nodding in approval of their plan. A total break from each other, no strings attached, though he was positive that if it came down to it, Ami could contact them in an emergency. “Trust me, I know what you mean.” He rose then, ducking a bit to avoid hitting his head on the ceiling, carrying a bowl of stew he’d fixed for himself to a seat on the other side of the fireplace. “Finish eating and I’ll help you get into the bed. You need to rest.”

Ami nodded in agreement and they were silent after that except for an inquiry from Nappa if she wanted more stew after she’d emptied her bowl. She didn’t though; she was full to bursting and that pain pill was beginning to take effect, leaving her limbs heavy and making her eyes slip shut every minute as she fought sleep.

Nappa didn’t miss her exhaustion and stood as soon as he’d finished his third wolfed-down bowl, and when she jolted awake at the feeling of him lifting her, he gave her his best reassuring smile. “It’s alright. I’ve got you.”

“Thanks,” Ami sighed, snuggling into him and inexplicably missing his strong arms around her when he placed her in his bed and tucked her in.

###########################

 

When Ami woke it was dark, and she blinked in surprise at the sensation of warmth surrounding her, startled after so long of waking alone curled up in snowdrifts. “What the—“

“Hn? Oh. Sorry.” The warmth around her immediately let go and unfurled, and Ami only realized once it was gone that it was Nappa, the former alien general who had kindly bound her knee and ankle and taken her in.

He’d been snuggled up against her and she’d been sleeping curled up with her head resting on his chest, and Ami blushed the moment she realized it, grateful that it was too dark for his half-open eyes to see how red she’d turned. “Oh. Um. No, it’s ok,” she squeaked out nervously, only to shiver when he leaned in and kissed her cheek, his facial hair tickling her soft skin in a manner that surprisingly left her wanting more.

“Morning,” he rumbled as he pulled away, acting as if it hadn’t even happened. “Come on, I’ll show you where the bathroom’s at. You need help?”

Even as her body unexplainably craved his warmth once more, Ami hesitated before taking the clear offer to be carried, watching him with wide eyes when he rolled out of bed and towered over her, extending his hands in the dark.

What was this that she felt whenever they touched? Why had he kissed her not once, but twice? And why in Mercury’s name did she crave contact with him already? _Love at first sight, maybe? That’s what Mina would say, but… no. It’s not that. He’s the handsomest man I’ve ever met and incredibly kind, but… I don’t love him. At least… I don’t think so. Do I?_

She was definitely attracted to him, though, and Ami blushed when she paused for only a few moments before accepting his offer to help her to the bathroom. There was no way she could put weight on her bad leg yet and she knew it, so to refuse him would be downright ridiculous… but at the same time, she couldn’t help but notice that he smelled incredible as he carried her across the room into a small, open water closet.

“You got it?” Nappa inquired as he sat her on her good leg carefully and waited for her to nod before he turned his back to give her privacy. “Sorry there’s no door. It’s an old place and I bought it from this old guy that lived up here all alone. Guess he didn’t see a need for a door when it was only him living here. And me… I just step outside most of the time. I don’t like really cramped spaces.”

“Honestly, it seems pretty spacious to me,” Ami giggled as she grasped the counter to haul herself up and fought to get her panties back in place with only one hand. “Damn it… oh, come on already, just—“ Her face couldn’t have possibly gotten any hotter when Nappa suddenly turned, his eyes trained on the ceiling and his hands grasping her waist to lift her slightly off the floor, and Ami scrambled to pull her panties up as fast as possible.

“Sorry. Should’ve asked first,” Nappa realized when he finally looked down to find Ami frowning up at him. “Didn’t mean any offense. And I didn’t look, promise. I was just trying to help.”

Something told Ami that his face was just as red as hers in the dark and she sighed and nodded. “I know, but you startled me. Warn me next time?”

“Yeah. No problem. Sorry,” he apologized again when she allowed him to scoop her back up and he carried her into the living room to sit her in the same chair from yesterday. “Look… Ami? I… I’m not used to being around other people. Not in years. So forgive me if I forget to be polite or if I like… forget about personal space and shit like that. Alright? It takes some getting used to after a long time of living alone.”

While she thought that over, Nappa cringed as he got the fire in the fireplace going again. Should he tell her the truth? That he’d felt the pull for her? That his problem didn’t have anything to do with his lack of social skills? Dear gods, what would she do if he told her!? “Look… Ami,” he repeated, “I…” Shuddering at the thought of rejection, he looked up from his work to find her smiling. “What?” Her face was red, but there was a smile there, nonetheless.

“Nappa, I’m the one who’s sorry. I didn’t think about how alone you’ve been for so long. My apologies,” Ami stated softly, “I’ll try to remember that in the future.”

Her apology was so sincere that his nerves melted in the face of it, and Nappa sighed as he looked up at her for a long, silent moment. “Fuck,” he sputtered, “Ami… you’re too fucking nice. I’d better just give you the truth. I… my people, the Saiyans. We…” Gritting his teeth, Nappa raked his hand over his bald head before shaking it slowly. “Food. Food first. We’ll discuss it over food, and then… and then if you want to leave I’ll understand. But I won’t let you leave hungry.”

He was suddenly so frazzled that Ami could only watch him rush around the room and put together their breakfast, and when she realized that his increasing anxiety was likely because of her silence, the Senshi of Mercury cleared her throat while he was putting some ki-thawed fish on a metal grill. “Um… Nappa? What’s wrong? Why… why would I leave?” Hell, _how_ would she leave!? Her leg was throbbing to begin with and Ami even had a pain pill in her hand, but she’d held off on taking it because of whatever was bothering him. He wanted to talk, so she’d waited. “Look, Nappa. Whatever it is, I can’t leave. My leg’s too bad and I honestly don’t even know how I managed to make it here in the first place.”

“I know, I know. If anything, _I’ll_ leave,” Nappa whispered, “the risks be damned. I’ll leave. I’ll be damned if I kick my mate out into the snow for the androids to find her and kill her. I won’t do it.”

His voice had morphed into a growl about halfway through his statement and Ami swallowed hard as she wondered if she’d heard right. Yes, she’d heard right, there wasn’t a point in denying it. “Mate?” She breathed nervously, looking him up and down in a whole new light. Yes, he was ridiculously attractive, the most attractive man she’d ever seen, but… but…

“Food,” Nappa sighed as he slid closer and looked up at her in the firelight. “We’ll talk over breakfast. I… I’m sorry, for what it’s worth. Now break that pill in half or quarters or something, just enough to take the edge off the pain without dulling your wits. I need you to be fully concious while we talk but my beast can see that you’re in pain and he’s starting to pitch a fit about it.”

“…beast?”

Her wide eyes and the slight tremor to her hands brought forth another weary sigh, and Nappa rose and got her a glass of water, hesitating when he returned, his hand hovering beside her face when he knelt again. He wanted to give her some sort of comforting touch but the idea of terrifying her further scared him, so he finally let that hand rest on her shoulder and squeezed it gently. “If you’re worried that I’ll hurt you or something, Ami… don’t. Don’t worry. I promise you I won’t. Now take something for the pain, please. I’m going to go outside and wash up a bit and do my business, and I’ll be back before the fish and the rice are ready. Alright?”

Speechless before the worried, haunted look in his eyes, Ami could only nod numbly, and when he gave her one last, long, complicated look and went outside into the pre-dawn darkness, she did as he’d asked and took what she surmised was enough of the pain pill to take the edge off without making her too loopy. She was left to her thoughts for a while and zoned out as she went deep and contemplated all of the information he’d given her so far, putting it together like a puzzle, reaching a small measure of understanding before he returned.

When he did, Nappa found her staring at the fire, her face blank, and he assumed the worst as he fixed her food first and set it on a small table he’d drug over. “I’ll leave tomorrow morning,” he murmured, “but only if you think you’ll be alright. If not, I’ll stay until you are. I’ll sleep out here in the chair until then.” He fixed his own food then and remained silent, staring at the plate of fish and the bowl of rice for several minutes before he realized that he wasn’t hungry.

Goddamn it, he’d never been this worked up about something in his entire life. Not even the destruction of his own race had rendered his appetite nonexistent. “Ami?” When she didn’t reply, Nappa looked up at her and realized that she hadn’t heard him; she hadn’t even touched her breakfast. Was she really that deep in thought? “Ami?”

After a shake to her good leg, Ami jumped and stared at him with wide eyes before blinking and realizing that she’d zoned out. “Huh? Oh. Sorry, I was thinking. Did you say something?”

She really hadn’t heard a word of it? Gritting his teeth at the thought of leaving her unprotected and alone, Nappa almost couldn’t bring himself to say it a second time… but he had to. He’d give her that option, at least. His beast was furious at the idea, but Nappa’s honor demanded it, his beast be damned. “I said I’ll leave in the morning. Or whenever you feel like you can fend for yourself. I’ll sleep in here in the meantime. Now eat. You need to eat, Ami,” he added weakly, his voice strangled as he grasped her plate and offered it up. “Please.”

“Thank you,” Ami said as she managed a little smile, warming at his selfless offer to leave her be. “I was thinking,” she said after the first bite, “about what bits and pieces I can recall from my first life, before I’d died in battle and was reincarnated on Earth. And I remember Saiyans. Not a lot, but a little.”

Judging by her blush, she’d recalled something about their mating customs, and Nappa nodded in encouragement even as he denied himself the hope welling up inside of him. She hadn’t mentioned his offer to leave, but that wasn’t any reason to be hopeful. She was probably just trying to accept his offer as gently as possible. “What do you remember?”

“I was studying something,” Ami replied, clearly annoyed. “It bothers me that I can’t remember very clearly, but I was studying some sort of myth or… no, not a myth. A… rarity. Something called a… pull?”

“The pull is what we felt the moment we locked eyes,” Nappa offered. “That tugging in your chest or stomach.”

Oh good, he knew about it and could fill her in on what she couldn’t remember. “What does it mean?”

Nappa sputtered at that and finally chuckled, shaking his head as he shoveled in a bite of food despite the fact that he wasn’t hungry. “That’s something that my people debated for a long time and still hadn’t solved by the time our planet was destroyed. A lot of people thought lots of different things about it, and since it only ever happened to maybe twenty people in all my life, there was never a lot of information readily available from someone it had happened to.”

“Ok, I’ll rephrase, then. What do _you_ think it is?” Ami asked calmly, catching his gaze and holding it, shivering at the odd tugging sensation they were discussing. The pull. Huh… so that’s what it felt like. She had felt it the other times she’d looked into his eyes, but she’d just chalked it up to butterflies and the fact that she found him immensely handsome.

“Destiny,” Nappa answered after a moment of hesitation, his voice hoarse when she didn’t break eye contact and his beast started purring in response to what it assumed was her acceptance of its nature. “Fate. Maybe even the gods favoring two warriors for pleasing them. I don’t know what it means for sure, but that’s what I believe.” It was only when she blushed that he realized that his tail had wound around her good leg, and Nappa choked out an apology before pulling it back and winding it around his waist again. “Sorry. Like I said, I’ll go.” She didn’t want him and who could blame her? He certainly couldn’t, he’d be the last man in the universe to ever blame her for not wanting his filthy, bloodstained hands on her untainted skin.

“No,” Ami said softly, leaning forward to take his hand even as she turned so red that she was positive she was actually purple. “Nappa… I didn’t even need to think about that part. I don’t want you to go. This is your home. If anything, I’ll go when my leg’s better, but… I…” It took all of her courage to say it, but the words finally came out in a rush of air. “…I don’t want to leave you. I can’t explain why but… the thought of leaving you alone doesn’t sit well with me. I feel like it would be better to stick together.”

“I don’t think I can for very long,” Nappa admitted. “Ami… I’m old,” he sighed. “Really old when you compare me to my own people, even before my world was destroyed. Too old to really fight my beast anymore, especially when it wants something. Or someone. The only thing that’s keeping it tame right now is the fact that you’re injured. So,” he continued when she remained silent, “that leaves us with three choices. One, I go now. Two, one of us goes when your leg is healed. Or three…” He shrugged at that when her face turned red again and he didn’t finish the sentence. He didn’t need to; the last option was the most obvious. “I’ll accept whatever choice you make. Here, eat mine if you want it, I’m just not hungry. I’m going to go cut wood for the day and work out. Call me if you need to use the bathroom.”

His honesty impressed her more than anything, and Ami couldn’t help but appreciate it when she reached out and grasped his hand before he could rise, giving it a squeeze and offering him a shy smile. “Nappa… look. We’ve only known each other a day so I can’t decide anything. Not yet. But… whatever I decide, I want you to know right now that I’m grateful to you for everything. Especially your honesty. You could have tried to hide what you are and what’s going on with you… but you didn’t. And on top of it all, you could’ve given into it and hurt me, but you’re fighting it. Thank you for that. You’re a good man.”

Nappa returned the squeeze she’d given his hand by lifting hers to his lips, where he kissed her knuckles, his heart pounding as he fought the urge to lean in and kiss her mouth. “I’m anything but good, _atti_ , but I won’t hurt _you_ ,” he sighed before giving in just a little bit and embracing her tightly, his face buried in her hair. Her scent did wonders to calm his beast, just as it had yesterday when he’d finally climbed into bed with her after fighting it hard all day, so when she didn’t push him away, Nappa stayed put. “Swear it on my tail. You’ve got the power to end me, so if my beast breaks through and scares you, do it. End me and don’t feel bad about it for a minute. Understand? I’d rather be dead than hurt you, even on accident. Setting your knee doesn’t count,” he added with a weak chuckle.

“No, I didn’t even think about that,” Ami whispered as she marveled at how warm she felt in his arms. “Is… is this normal?” She finally asked when he didn’t release her and only continued to purr softly, the sound and vibration lulling her into a semi-trance. “I feel nice,” she added when he didn’t answer. “Safe. Like nothing could ever hurt me.”

“From what I know about the pull, yeah,” he rumbled, his voice completely content as he held her and breathed in her scent. “Wanna stay right here awhile. It helps. That ok?”

Not only wasn’t there a good reason to deny him, but Ami simply didn’t want to. She hadn’t felt so safe in all her life and especially not since the androids had appeared, and when she thought about telling him no, she couldn’t ignore the fact that she liked the way this made her feel. “I’m ok with it,” she replied softly, winding her arms around him when he lifted her and carried her back to the bed, blushing hotly when he suddenly turned his face to hers and kissed her once they were lying down.

It was a chaste kiss but it warmed them both from head to toe, and even Nappa blushed as he drew back enough to gauge her reaction. “Sorry. I won’t do that again. I only wanted—“

“It’s alright. It was just a kiss,” Ami assured him, her eyes slipping shut when he sighed happily and buried his face in her hair once more, his lips skimming over her earlobe. “So… even though we only just met… this really is normal?”

“It’s the pull,” he answered simply. Nappa couldn’t think of another way to explain it, to him it was the pull and simply that, and those three words explained a magnitude of things when it came to how both of them were reacting to each other. It explained everything, really. “Most warriors feared it more than anything, but me… I’d always secretly hoped I’d feel it one day,” he confessed with a hint of shyness.

That surprised Ami and she blinked as she leaned up enough to look at him in the slowly growing light. “Fear it? Why? That doesn’t make any sense.”

“Heh. Saiyans live to fight, baby,” Nappa laughed softly. He couldn’t help it, just thinking about how Vegeta had confessed that he was terrified of the pull put him in stitches. Turles hadn’t been much better, either… the same as his father. Raditz was the only warrior that Nappa had ever trained that admitted to dreaming about feeling the pull one day, the only warrior that looked forward to it just as Nappa had. “Some fear it because they’re afraid of tying another to them and dragging them down with them when they die. Some fear it because they’re afraid of being the one tied down to something good. We live and breathe war and fighting. It’s our bread and butter. Hell, look at those two runts down there; they’re only fucking half-breeds and they’ve still got enough of that fighting drive to keep at it every day without giving up. It’s in their DNA.”

“Wait… but if it’s in their DNA, then why aren’t you—“

“I’m _old_ ,” Nappa repeated with a huff, “and when _you’ve_ gotten to the ripe old age of a hundred and thirty, you’ll know the difference between an honorable death and pointlessly throwing your life away. Sure, I’m stronger than Vegeta was when he died fighting them, but not by much. It might be cowardly but I enjoy living a lot more than I’d enjoy dying after being their plaything for thirty seconds. No… there’s no honor in it, Ami. There’s no honor in dying for nothing… even if it makes me a coward.”

His voice was so bitter that Ami immediately felt bad for asking, and at a loss for how to handle the shame in his eyes, she bent her head to his and nervously kissed the corner of his mouth, not quite brave enough to fully press her lips to his and initiate a real kiss. It was tempting, but not yet. “I’m sorry, Nappa. Resisting the urge to fight them must be hard.”

“Almost as hard as resisting the urge to seduce you,” he confessed as he wished she’d fully kissed him. “Lucky for you, though, you’ve got a busted leg.”

Ami couldn’t have possibly turned redder and tried not to shiver with pleasure when he immediately frowned and tried to soothe her with a caress to her spine, but her curiosity about his people was piqued and she couldn’t stop herself from asking questions. “Nappa…? If… if my leg wasn’t busted…”

“If you’d said no I would’ve left,” he stated flatly. “Simple as that. If you’d said yes… well, I’d spend the rest of my life trying to make you as happy as I possibly could. I don’t know. I’ve never been mated before, Blue. Sorry if that’s not a great answer,” Nappa finally sighed as he resisted the urge to kiss her by burying his face in her hair again. “And… thank you for this. It might seem like nothing to you, but this… this means the world to me.”

Ami didn’t have to be a genius to know that he meant that holding her meant the world, and the arms wrapped around his back squeezed him gently in a hug. “It’s not nothing to me, Nappa, I promise. You were my first kiss,” she whispered shyly. “Yesterday, after you’d set my knee.”

“Fuck, baby. I’m sorry, I should’ve asked. You’re young and I didn’t think—wait… how old _are_ you?” He asked hesitantly. “Do I even wanna know?” His instincts told him late teens, maybe early twenties, but she had old, wise eyes that told him thirty or more. In this day and age, in the middle of a war, it was difficult to tell someone’s age at first glance, especially a woman that had fought the androids multiple times and had lived to tell the tale.

“I’m nineteen,” she giggled despite her embarrassment—the terrified look in his eyes made it clear that he was steeling himself for the bombshell that she was only fifteen or sixteen—and his immediate relief made her laugh even harder. “Not quite so bad now, is it?”                                                                                                                              

“Youngest I ever took to bed was eighteen even though sixteen was the mating age back home,” he said with a hint of good humor. “But since then I’ve learned that sixteen on Vegeta-sei is more like twenty-five on Earth where maturity’s concerned. Saiyan women lived fast, hard lives and fought as much as the men did unless they were pregnant. Then once the kid was born and weaned, it’d be right back to war. A lot like it is now for humans, only here it’s more running and hiding and being scared all the time than anything else. At least we weren’t always terrified for our lives. Never when at home.”

“Nappa…?”

“Hm?”

Allowing her eyes to slip shut as she took a page from his book and breathed in his clean, alluringly masculine scent, Ami blushed before speaking, knowing full well that she was repeating herself. “I said it before, but… I can’t get over it. I… I’ve never felt safe in all my life, Nappa. Not until now. It’s such a wonderful feeling,” she sighed contentedly.

“Ami, I wish to the gods that I could protect you from them, but… if they show up…” Gritting his teeth, Nappa drew back to look at her, only for the tension to melt from his face at the sight of her eyes shut in perfect trust and her lips curled up in a serene, utterly inviting smile. So inviting that he couldn’t resist the desire to lean in, his breath ghosting over her lips as he cupped her face. “I’ll die fighting them to give you a chance to run, Ami… but I’ll lose. Then they’ll come for you, too. I _will_ die for you, make no mistake, but don’t get drawn in by a sense of security that doesn’t exist. I can’t defeat them, baby.”

“Doesn’t matter,” she murmured happily. “That wasn’t even the point. I’d rather know what it feels like than not know at all, even if my brain knows better than to fully trust it.” That was the really funny part, honestly—her brain _did_ trust that feeling, and when Nappa closed the gap to mold his lips to hers, Ami let loose a soft moan of pleasure, too caught up in all of the amazing, wonderful, positive feelings flooding her with security and the first real happiness she’d ever felt in her life.

Dear gods, if this was normal, if this was what she’d always feel like in his arms, Ami knew without a doubt that she wouldn’t be able to give it up when her leg healed. Having sex with a relative stranger would be a small price to pay in exchange for the sense of safety and happiness she’d longed to feel all of her life. “Nappa,” she whispered between kisses that she’d started returning almost immediately, her hands trembling as they admired and traced the scars littering his torso. “It’s ok, Nappa.”

“No,” he groaned as he buried his fingers in her hair and dove in for another kiss, smoothing his tongue along her bottom lip and purring happily when she opened to him immediately. His resolve nearly crumbled at the sweet taste of her, and it took Nappa a couple minutes before he could find the strength to draw back, instantly regretting the flicker of loss that flashed in her eyes the moment he broke the best kiss he’d ever had. “You’re high, baby,” he rumbled. “How much of that pill did you take?”

“I’m not high,” Ami argued even as she wondered if he was right and she blushed hotly in embarrassment. “I feel nice but I only took half of it.”

“And a whole pill put you on your ass. If you’d taken a quarter of it I’d believe you, but half?” Nappa asked gently. “Baby, you’re high. Ain’t no way you’d be willing to let me just have you unless you were.”

“I don’t feel high,” Ami murmured as she snuggled into him again, drawing in his scent and sighing as it filled her with that sense of happiness and security once more. “That’s even better than any pill,” she purred. “You know… years ago, when I was thirteen, we were sitting around and talking about boys. Minako wanted someone beautiful. Makoto wanted a warrior. And I… I just wanted someone that made me feel safe and happy. And—“ Ami stopped at that, her eyes wide in the near-dark, and when she sat up at stared at Nappa, he lifted an eyebrow in concern.

“You alright, Blue?” He rumbled. “Bad trip or something?” She was definitely high on that half of a pill, but something had clearly struck a nerve or she’d remembered something important. “Ami?”

“Rei,” Ami said slowly. “Mars. She… she was only like, _nine_ at the time, but…” Again, she just looked at Nappa, raking her eyes over him from head to toe and then back up again. “That little… even at nine years old, she was doing the thing. What the serious fuck?”

“I’m lost,” Nappa admitted when she began to mutter to herself in a language he didn’t understand. “Sailor Mars did what when she was nine?”

“She told me… ‘ _when_ you meet him,’” Ami said carefully, emphasizing the ‘when,’ “’you’ll know it. When you meet him you’ll know it, and… follow your heart. Don’t overthink it like you always do, Ami. Follow your heart. Do what feels right… and don’t tell him no. You’ll regret it if you do.’”

Nappa just stared at her for a minute, waiting for more, but when she didn’t continue and her cheeks colored brightly, he huffed. “Goddamnit, I know I’m not the brightest bulb in the crayon box, but I hate to admit feeling stupid, Blue. I don’t understand,” he added when she cast a nervous glance his way and fiddled with the hem of her skirt.

“Rei’s psychic,” Ami mumbled, shaking her head slowly from side to side, “and she has a habit of giving everyone she meets cryptic messages that aren’t understood until it’s time to understand them. She’s been doing it since she was four, since the day I found her and Usagi. Or rather, since _they_ found _me_ ,” she corrected herself. “She must have seen you in a vision, because she told me that when I met the man that makes me happy and safe, that I shouldn’t overthink it. That I should follow my heart and do what feels right. And to not tell you no,” Ami finished in a shaky whisper.

“No,” Nappa grunted when she turned her eyes up to his with purpose in them. “No. You’re high and your leg’s still busted, and honestly… I don’t like the idea of you letting me fuck you just because a nine year old told you to.”

“Nappa… Rei’s fifteen now. I’ve known her for almost twelve years. I raised her and Usagi all alone for three, until I was ten and we met Mako and Mina. Twelve years… and she’s never been wrong. Not once. If she tells you something, you do it or you regret the consequences… hell, that was even part of her warning to me—that I would regret it if I didn’t,” Ami stated softly. “Wait,” she added when he opened his mouth to speak again. “Just… not right now. But when my leg’s a little bit better… I’ll mate with you.” Again, she cut him off, but with a wave of her hand when he growled and shook his head, and Ami laid down once more, looking up at him pleadingly, her cheeks red at the thought of the inevitable. “Please, Nappa, don’t be upset. Would… would you just hold me some more? Please?”

That last please destroyed his resistance and the troubled look in her eyes brought his beast to the surface, urging him to comfort her. “Yeah, baby… I can do that,” he sighed, looping his tail around her as he resumed snuggling her and buried his face in her hair again. “And I’m not upset,” Nappa added in a slightly petulant tone, “I just don’t want you to mate me because you feel like you have to. I want you to want me.”

“I do,” Ami confessed shyly. “When we were kissing… I didn’t want you to stop. I’ve never wanted that before with a man. Did you want me?” She added as an afterthought, only to blush hotly when he grasped the hand resting on his chest and slid it down to press it against his massive erection. “Oh,” the genius squeaked. “Oh my.”

“Phhht… answer your question, _atti_?” He snorted in amusement.

“Doesn’t that hurt?” When he didn’t answer, Ami swallowed hard and looked up at him just as she curled her fingers around the thick organ lying against her palm. “I… I mean… if you want me to… I can, um…”

“Can’t say I ain’t tempted,” he rumbled, “but you’re high, Ami. No,” Nappa sighed as he extracted her hand from his groin and laid it on his hip. Damn it, he hoped that she had a clue just how difficult it was to resist taking her offer! “In four to six hours or whenever that pill wears off, if you still want to make me come, not only will I return the favor, but I’ll probably rip these fucking jeans off in the process of getting naked for you. But not now, not when you’re high. Alright?”

“Alright,” Ami agreed softly, her eyes slipping shut as she pressed a tender kiss to a scar over his heart. “You’re a very good man, Nappa.”

It was five minutes later that Nappa smiled to himself and then let loose a laugh—Ami was out fucking cold and he’d been right all along. She’d been high as a kite and had just passed out… and she was even snoring on top of it all, the sound only making him laugh harder as he tried to untangle himself from her. He needed to go outside or he was going to wake her up on accident from all of his guffawing, and when she let out a particularly high-pitched, adorable snore, Nappa had to cover his mouth as he snorted loudly in reaction. “Heh… heheheh… sleep well, Blue. Maybe when you’re sober you’ll still want me.”

He pressed his lips to hers then, keeping the kiss as brief as it was tender, then carefully covered her up and tucked her into his bed. “Gods… I hope you’ll still want me when you’re sober,” he sighed in prayer. “Please, gods… please let her still want me.”

“Mmm… Nappa…”

“Alright, time to go. Don’t wanna wake you up and risk you tempting me again,” he muttered, even though he was unable to resist dropping another kiss upon her lips before leaving the room, intending to go outside to take care of his frustration. Nappa spotted his plate then and smiled as he scooped it up; before, he’d been so upset that he hadn’t wanted anything to eat.

But now… now he was hungry. She was going to stay, and that knowledge washed away his anxiety, making his stomach rumble now that it wasn’t tied up in knots.

She was really going to stay with him.


End file.
